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To: Blackdakota
30 billion Jupiters

Out of the 100 SuperJupiters, they found 1 that has an orbit like the one and only original Jupiter. That 1 is a "possible" for small rocky planets similar to the inner planets. The rest are unlikely. That's 1 in 1000, not 1 in 10. The 30 billion is down to 0.3 billion. If you pick up 300 million grains of sand off a beach, what are the odds of even one jewel-quality diamond being in there? Could happen, but you could starve first.

17 posted on 07/03/2002 9:30:00 AM PDT by RightWhale
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To: RightWhale
Out of the 100 SuperJupiters, they found 1 that has an orbit like the one and only original Jupiter. That 1 is a "possible" for small rocky planets similar to the inner planets. The rest are unlikely. That's 1 in 1000, not 1 in 10. The 30 billion is down to 0.3 billion. If you pick up 300 million grains of sand off a beach, what are the odds of even one jewel-quality diamond being in there? Could happen, but you could starve first.

"The first discoveries concentrated on short orbital periods because of the limited timebase of observations. Now, we are learning more about the statistics of long orbital periods and know to what extent our own Jupiter is exceptional or not."

Current planet detection technology - based on the "wobble" induced in the parent star by the gravitational pull of the orbiting planet - can only detect worlds about the mass of Saturn or larger. Earth-sized worlds are too small to be seen.

Sounds like our detection capabilities are pretty primative at this time. It might be wise to wait a few years to see what else they find before we start making and debating consclusions.

33 posted on 07/03/2002 9:50:54 AM PDT by laredo44
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To: RightWhale
"... If you pick up 300 million grains of sand off a beach, what are the odds of even one jewel-quality diamond being in there?"

Not a relative analogy, I don't think; A beach would be the last place to look for a natural diamond.

Might be an OK place to look for a lost diamond that fell off a wedding ring though.

300,000,000 grains of sand isn't much more than a bucketful anyway.

55 posted on 07/03/2002 10:14:02 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: RightWhale
OUR milky way. They are millions of "Milky Ways" out there...

The number of stars in OUR universe completely overwhelms your argument...

There may be OTHER universes as well...

125 posted on 07/03/2002 2:30:57 PM PDT by chilepepper
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